Then Play On
(1969)

2 Even now, Then Play On sounds for­mally provoca­tive. Here was a band borne of the blues, largely es­chew­ing its for­mal 12-bar struc­ture and earthly con­cerns to stretch it into a psy­che­delic rock freak-out. Then Play On is an ex­pan­sive mas­ter­piece that saw Danny Kir­wan make his Mac de­but and Peter Green his swansong be­fore his LSD con­sump­tion took its toll on his men­tal health. Jeremy Spencer con­trib­uted lit­tle. Maybe the LSD should have taken a writ­ing credit. The heady, melan­choly swirl of Clos­ing My Eyes and the bongo su­per­jam Com­ing Your Way sug­gest as much, a psy­chotropic con­trast to the ol’ blues scratch of Kir­wan’s One Sunny Day and the ram­blin’ man slide of Green’s Show­biz Blues.